<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Whether you're bound with flesh and blood, or leather and ink, you'll always be bound to me by TheKidsFromYesterday</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26779567">Whether you're bound with flesh and blood, or leather and ink, you'll always be bound to me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheKidsFromYesterday/pseuds/TheKidsFromYesterday'>TheKidsFromYesterday</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Ectober 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Danny Phantom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Ectober (Danny Phantom), Existential Crisis, Gen, Psychological Horror, Time Loop</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:55:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,733</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26779567</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheKidsFromYesterday/pseuds/TheKidsFromYesterday</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny defeated Ghost Writer and got his happy ending. Except it's not the end. And it may never be.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Ectober 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952503</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Whether you're bound with flesh and blood, or leather and ink, you'll always be bound to me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/4006195">The Book</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/PuppetMaster55/pseuds/PuppetMaster55">PuppetMaster55</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>4th of January, 2020. Added The Book as a parent work because I am an idiot and forgot to do that when I posted this story. It's a bit long, but it is a truly fascinating read.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Danny's life was looking up.</p>
<p>
He was dating the girl of his dreams, his parents loved and accepted both sides of him, and Vlad was out of the picture, most likely for good.
</p>
<p>
And better yet, his grades were improving! He had given up hope on becoming an astronaut a long time ago, but now his dream seemed more and more real each day.
</p>
<p>
After the Disasteroid, his teachers had been more understanding of him needing an extra week to finish papers and projects. He managed to work out a schedule for fighting ghosts, studying, sleeping, and spending time with his friends and family. Speaking of friends, he was meeting Sam and Tucker at the mall in half an hour. They were going to window shop, as it would most likely be too crowded this close to the holidays for them to actually get into the shops.
</p>
<p>
He could hear his parents downstairs having their yearly argument again. Danny phased through the floor and sneaked past them, ignoring the slight twinge of irritation he felt as they bickered. Oh well, he'd be back at school soon, with all the annoying roommates and stress that came with it.
</p>
<p>
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
</p>
<p>
As it turned out, the mall wasn't as crowded as he'd thought. The three of them had managed to purchase a few gifts for their families, and had bought some food to eat while they walked.
</p>
<p>
"So, are you going to the Ghost Zone again this year?" Tucker asked around his pretzel.
</p>
<p>
"Dunno. It depends on how bad mum and dad are fighting." Danny said with a shrug.
</p>
<p>
"You're always welcome to come over to my place!" Tucker slung an arm around Danny's shoulder.
</p>
<p>
"I'd offer, but you know how my parents are." Sam said.
</p>
<p>
Even though she and Danny had been dating for several years, the Mansons still harboured distrust for Danny.
</p>
<p>
"It's fine. Besides, the last time I went to your house this time of year, your dad flushed all the mistletoe down the toilet."
</p>
<p>
The three of them laughed and wandered around the mall. Danny wrapped an arm around Sam's waist and smiled at her.
</p>
<p>
The holidays weren't so bad after all.
</p>
<p>
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
</p>
<p>
"No." Ghost Writer said without turning around.
</p>
<p>
"You don't even know what I was going to say."
</p>
<p>
"You were going to ask me to free him. I don't know why you even bother coming here. You're the Keeper of Time, you know all. So you shouldn't need to ask. You'll know when I'm planning to let him out before I do." Ghost Writer tapped his finger on the purple desk in front of him, staring at the keys of his typewriter. "Vicious, wrathful, malicious . . ." he mumbled under his breath. "Heinous! That's it!" Ghost Writer's fingers flew across the keys as he typed.
</p>
<p>
Behind him, Clockwork quietly seethed. "Surely he's suffered enough?" he tried.
</p>
<p>
"Suffered? He's having the time of his life right now. No, his suffering will begin when I free him from this book, snatching away every glittering bauble I dangled in front of him. <em>That</em> will be his punishment. Not <em>this</em>." Ghost Writer gestured to the fat tome beside the typewriter. He plucked the page he had just written and scanned it twice for spelling errors. Satisfied, he slid it into place at the back of the book, smiling as tiny green threads reached out to grasp the edge, pulling the page into place and binding it to the spine.
</p>
<p>
"It's been fifty-three years." Clockwork hissed.
</p>
<p>
"So? I thought you were handling the living world?" Ghost Writer frowned down at his typewriter. "What's another word for child?"
</p>
<p>
"Offspring, tyke, youth." Clockwork sighed, having learned by now that when Ghost Writer hit a block, it was in his best interest to assist. Ghost Writer had been struck with writers block shortly after being thrown in prison, and had spent three years writing a mere week of Danny's "life".
</p>
<p>
"No, that's not it. It starts with a P."
</p>
<p>
"Progeny?"
</p>
<p>
"Thank you." More clicking and clacking from the typewriter.
</p>
<p>
Clockwork had personally delivered it to Ghost Writer, who had explained that if he didn't keep adding to the story, Danny would relive a never-ending loop until Ghost Writer let him go. It never ran out of paper or ink, which was just as well, considering how long Ghost Writer had been working on the story.
</p>
<p>
"The story must be nearly finished now." Clockwork said as he shrank to the size of a small child. "How far along are you?" He was curious, to know how much longer he'd have to wait, and how traumatised Danny would be when he realised so much of his life had been a lie.
</p>
<p>
"Danny's about to graduate from university. He's going to be an astronaut after all. Aren't I kind?" Ghost Writer smirked over his shoulder at Clockwork. "He never would have been accepted in this world. In here, he has everything he could ever want." Ghost Writer ran a loving hand over the cover of the book.
</p>
<p>
"Everything except free will."
</p>
<p>
"An omniscient spirit is lecturing me about free will." Ghost Writer said snidely.
</p>
<p>
Clockwork waited. The room was filled with clicking and whirring and crinkling paper. He had nothing in such surplus as time. However long Ghost Writer intended to draw this out, he would wait.
</p>
<p>
After a few hours, Ghost Writer stood, stretched, and brushed past Clockwork.
</p>
<p>
"I'm going to go visit some friends. Don't wait up."
</p>
<p>
Clockwork blocked the doorway with his staff. "The deal was you free Danny and Walker lets you go."
</p>
<p>
Ghost Writer rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "And I'm no use to you if I burn myself out. Now, I have a cousin here who was locked up for some asinine reason three hundred years ago. I'd like to go and talk to her."
</p>
<p>
Clockwork shifted to his elderly form and stood aside. The cell door was unlocked this time of day, as that was when Ghost Writer would start to seek out inspiration.
</p>
<p>
Ghost Writer chuckled as he passed the spirit of time. "The story's not done until the lesson is learned." Ghost Writer said with a cruel smirk.
</p>
<p>
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
</p>
<p>
Clockwork knew that the Observants were angry with him. He had done the unthinkable after seeing what happened to Danny.
</p>
<p>
He was standing in the middle of the Fentonworks living room, where Maddie and Jack were glaring at each other, their mouths opened to shout their protests.
</p>
<p>
Jasmine was curled up on the sofa with a book, glancing anxiously out the window. In the darkness of the street, snowflakes hung in the air as if they were pinned to it.
</p>
<p>
None of them reacted to his presence. Clockwork moved on to the basement, where a swirling green vortex was the only source of light to be found. Everything else in the house was still and quiet. He glanced at scalpels coated in dried ectoplasm, jars filled with glowing organs that flickered in and out of sight, and quickly glanced away.
</p>
<p>
Fifty-three years ago, Danny had vanished. Clockwork had panicked, rightfully so considering how many apocalyptic futures the boy was tied to. It hadn't taken long for him to realise that Ghost Writer would draw out Danny's punishment as long as possible. So Clockwork had done the only thing he could. He had frozen time in the entire universe. He had frozen the Ghost Zone as well, so none of Danny's enemies could take advantage of his absence. The only thing that remained untouched was the prison, which Clockwork had carefully contained in a bubble of time, so that if any of it's inhabitants broke free, they, too, would be frozen upon crossing into the Ghost Zone.
</p>
<p>
Ghost Writer had to get bored eventually. He would tire of writing of the droll day-to-day life of a teenage boy.
</p>
<p>

<em>Wouldn't he?</em>

</p>
<p>
Clockwork gripped his staff as nightmarish visions danced in front of him. What if Ghost Writer kept writing, adding more and more onto Danny's life? What if he wrote Danny into adulthood, gave him a spouse and children? What if he had Danny die at a ripe old age, and float freely into the Ghost Zone as a full spirit?
</p>
<p>
Danny would live out decades, possibly centuries, only to return to the body of a teenage boy.
</p>
<p>
Ghost Writer had made an odd comment a few days ago just as Clockwork was leaving. He had mentioned stumbling across a computer on one of his visits to the human world. Whoever had used it last had the page opened to a story, a "fanfic", that placed characters from some superhero film into Victorian times.
</p>
<p>

<em>"The fun I could have with that." Ghost Writer said cheerfully. "I could start his whole life over. He could be from a different planet, or live on a space station. He'd love that. Ooh, I could have him be the son of a royal family, arranged to marry someone he cannot stand. Maybe Vladimir could be his father, or his friend Tucker could become his lover instead of Samantha. What do you think, Clockwork? Surely you've seen all those outcomes and more on your screens?" He leaned forward and laced his fingers together, giving Clockwork a sickly sweet grin. "Tell me, did the little anomaly ever end up with you? Hmm? Is that why you're so desperate to get him back? All right, just this once, for you, I'll write a romance novel. Would you like your character to be a ghost, or a human? And we have to decide on a setting, and tropes . . ."</em>
</p>
<p>
Oh gods. Ghost Writer was going to keep adding onto the story. And when he finished, he would write it again, only a different genre this time. Danny would be a detective in a mystery novel, and a necromancer in a horror novel, and Ghost Writer would give him love, happiness, a family, and finally death, only to have him "born" into a new "life", a new story again and again and again and again.
</p>
<p>
Clockwork blinked back tears and stepped into the portal, heading back to his own lair for a while. He didn't know why he bothered. Ever since he froze time in both worlds the screens had been dark.
</p>
<p>
All except one, which showed a gleeful Ghost Writer in a library with crowded shelves, humming to himself as he added another book to his collection.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I had this niggling thought that wouldn't leave me alone. If Ghost Writer turned Danny into a book, and if he still was one at the end of the episode, it would explain why the future episodes, particularly the first few after it, were so ridiculous. Another great fic that explores this theory is "The Book" by PuppetMaster55. I'm surprised there aren't more fics about this. It's a fun theory to play with, similar to the Courage the Cowardly Dog theory.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>